CAPA – 2026 Core Winter Loss & Management Survey

The followings are the core questions that will be used in 2026 by each provincial apiarist for reporting the colony winter losses at the national level. As it has been since 2007, the objective is to estimate the winter kills with a simple and standardized method while taking into account the large diversity of situations around the country. This is a survey, so these questions are to be answered by the beekeepers.

1. How many full-sized colonies were put into winter in fall 2025?

Full-Sized Colonies: does not include nucleus colonies

2. How many full-sized colonies survived the 2025/2026 winter and were considered viable on:

May 1st (British Columbia); May 15th (Ontario, Quebec and Maritimes); May 21st (Alberta, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Saskatchewan)?

Full-Sized Colonies: does not include nucleus colonies

Viable: A viable colony, in a standard 8-10 frame colonies, is defined has having 4 frames or more being 75% bee-covered on both sides. NB: You must not include in this data new colonies created by division or purchased in spring 2025. You must however include overwintered colonies that would have been sold before May 1st (British Columbia), May 15th (Ontario, Quebec and Maritimes) or May 21st (Alberta, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Saskatchewan)

3. Which method of treatment did you use for varroa control in 2025? (Choose all that apply)

4. Please indicate the number of times you have carried out varroa monitoring, according to the method used in 2025.

5. Did you monitor for varroa before and after treatment in 2025? (Choose all that apply)

6. Which method of treatment did you use for nosema control in 2025? (Choose all that apply)

8. For those who applied an antibiotic for foulbrood.

10. To what do you attribute the main cause of death of your colonies in 2025-2026? (Please check every suspected cause and rank the causes according to their relative importance.)